- I spent a year teaching English in Japan. The experience was exciting and a total cultural shock.
- Living in Japan as a American is an immersive learning experience 24 hours a day.
- I went back to the United States for my career, but I have the impression that life in Japan is probably better.
Having grown up and lived in the United States all my life, my first Night in Tokyo As a fresh graduate, was a complete culture shock.
I couldn’t read the restaurant menu, so I had to point out photos and hope for the best.
I went crowded Night stores and boxes Where employees tried to attract people to enter. I couldn’t understand what they said, but I smiled, hosted my head and derived in a second state.
I felt like the only American on thousands of kilometers. A disguised blond guy from Iowa has plunged into the middle of the most populous city in the world. It was not lonely or scary – it was exciting.
I moved to Japan after university in 2001
My first job at the University was Teach English in Japan As part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (Jet) program.
I made friends of Japan by volunteering as a conversation partner in English for learners in English in my college. I became fascinated by Japanese history and culture.
So when I learned that the jet program offered a constant pay check and helped find an apartment, it was obvious.
I felt like part of a community in Japan
I found that Japanese culture was – in some ways – more inviting than the United States. With the kind permission of Ben Gran
My daily work life was in a quiet suburb of Tokyo called Hidaka. I made a comfortable salary, mainly free, of around $ 2,500 per month (300,000 yen), teacher English in local medium and elementary schools and working with Japanese teachers and students.
Although I cannot speak my language very well, I quickly got friends with my Japanese colleagues – the teachers would welcome a monthly enkai (“drinks”) with Dinner, beers and karaoke.
The people of grocery stores and restaurants were exceptionally nice and patient with me, and a random mother -in -old mother in the neighborhood even stopped in her car and gave me a tour to school a few times. I felt like I was connected to a wider community.
I learned to drive myself appropriately. Whether it is to remove your shoes when entering the house, knowing how to use chopsticks or communicating in a softer, more indirect and polished style in the workplace, Living in Japan as a American is an immersive learning experience 24 hours a day.
My university connections connected me to Tokyo
Some of my best memories were outside Hidaka, in Tokyo.
One of my friends from Japan, whom I met at university, introduced me to his circle of university peers in the city.
Thanks to these links, I was able to discover a completely different side of Japanese culture.
I went to a weekend retirement at a Hot Springs SPA station. And I ate sushi in a tiny restaurant hole in the wall near Tokyo’s largest fish marketwhere the tuna is dragged in the cool of the boat every morning.
Why did I go back to the United States
After a year in Japan, I I went back to the United States For an opportunity to become a speech editor for the governor of Iowa.
Although the teaching of English in Japan is fun and liberating, it was not like the best choice of long -term career for me.
I could easily have stayed in Japan and continue to teach English for another year, or two, or three.
In the end, however, I thought I had better career opportunities in my own native country and my mother tongue.
After working in politics, I continued to have a varied career, working in marketing, the bank, the technology and for most of the last 15 years, I supported my family as an independent full -time editor . I am grateful for all this and I probably earned much more money in America than as an American expatriate in Japan, with more flexibility of career and autonomy.
However, all these years later, I still have beautiful feelings for Japan and I stay in touch with my college friends there. My family and I are visiting them, and they come to visit us. My children were rings for one of my friends’ wedding ceremonies.
Compared to Japan, American individualist culture sometimes seems too stressful, selfish and competitive. I am grateful for my life here in the United States, but I often think that life in Japan is probably better – A little more peaceful, generous and soft.